I think that you should sign your kids up. 1) It is an opportunity for your children to be active and healthy...and may develop an extra healthy activity for them in the future. 2) We don't know what all of our children's talents are. If your child really enjoys this, then it behooves you to let him/her explore this opportunity. If the cost is an issue, then give the kids incentive to earn $$$ for their own golfing in the future. In one of my nannying years, I nannied for a very wise woman. As a hobby, she sewed baby quilts. "Did your mother teach you to sew?" "No." "Did your grandmother teach you to sew?" "No." And neither Mother nor Grandmother could sew a single stitch. "Then how did you learn?" Her parents signed her up for lots of different classes and such when she was a kid. "Some stuff stuck...and some stuff didn't." She also admitted that they once did a season of performances at the Met Opera (in NYC). Opera is one thing that did NOT stick.....but she knows enough about opera to get by at fancy dinner parties, etc, if she needs to. And she knows that she has given it "a fair try." I hope to be wise enough with my children to give them opportunities like this. --duckens who loves opera

I don't know, but I have the same problem with TIVO. :( I'm also addicted to captions! I think that I need to telephone TIVO support.

--10 foam stickers + 1/2 sheet of construction paper for each child. It takes time for those little hands to pull the paper off the back of the foamstickers. ETA: Put each "set" into a quart-sized ziplock bag. You can pack 10 of them for the next 5 weeks at once, and just grab a couple each week as you pack the diaperbag. --Small Magnadoodle. --A couple of toys (I'm thinking of small plastic animals) that are ONLY available during church time

Ty for posting! Loverboy had cable before moving in with me 4y ago. I know he misses Mythbusters. He is happy to hear we can watch them on Netflix Instant!

I am in Ames. Where are you, Sarita?

I am going!!! I thought I was the only one!!! I've never been to one before, and I am determine to go! One of my friends cannot afford to go, and the other is taking her kids to the grandparents' for the week! Here is the link: http://www.the-niche.org/2010conference.html Disclaimer: This is a religious conference. I am not religious, but I am going anyway to see what I can learn. I mention this because it may or may not be a good fit for everyone. Please feel free to PM me if you have any other questions or comments.

This is another vote for you to call the non-emergency police number. I would so be speed-dialing them!!! This is what they are there for. This is why we pay taxes. I don't see this as being anything different than sending a family member to the doctor if there is a strange lump or other thing with the body. I'm sure the doctor often hears, "This is probably nothing, but...." That is why we pay the doctor money: for their opinion and guidance. And we pay taxes for the opinion and guidance of our police force...so we can be reassured whether we are paranoid or not, and what we can do to stay safe. P.S. I don't think you are paranoid.

I think you should splurge on a new cover. This is something that you use every day, several times a day (if you nurse like dd). Will you nurse for another year? Our goal was to nurse for 2 years. We are now at 3.5, and although dd nurses less than ever, she is showing no indication of stopping outright. I have no boppy stories for dd and nursing. I wasn't that organized or coordinated to use a boppy for her. I did get a boppy for newborn M1 that I babysat to sit in when I couldn't hold or carry her.

Here's another vote for Letter of the Week! Where is your child at for letters/sounds? By the time dd knew all of her letters and sounds (thanks to LOTW!), we did the PALS reading program. It is one step below "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/pals/teachmat/KReadingSamples.html The fact that dd did well with PALS is not surprising. She has a stable home with two parents, and we have always read to her. The fact that C3 learned to read with PALS is a miracle. His parents have never married or lived together; there have been drug issues in the past; Dad is a deadbeat dad; Mom dates abusive men; etc, etc. -------------------------- For math, we recommend Saxon K. Nearly everything comes with the kit. It's all play oriented. No workbooks.

My father is a college graduate. My parents did not marry or have any children until after my father finished college. My father has ALWAYS had a job. Mom was a sahm until after I graduated and left home. My father works hard; he usually worked a salaried position, but would go back to work on Saturday morning to get stuff done. From January - May, he did taxes for other people to bring in extra income. (He was a Public Accountant). My parents have 3 children, not 7 or 8. The first two were planned; little brother was an accident. We only ate out once a week: for McDonald's after church. Perkins Restaurant was a fancy restaurant that I didn't go to until I was a teenager and dating. There were no issues in my childhood with money wasted on gambling, alcohol, or drugs. EVER. Not a single dime. The last new car that my parents bought was 1977. It was last year's model from the lot. I have never been to Disneyland, Disneyworld, or Yellowstone National Park. I never traveled out of the U.S. until I did so for work as an adult. As you can see, my parents are good church people who live frugally and honestly. AND THEY COULD NOT AFFORD HEALTH INSURANCE UNTIL LONG AFTER WE KIDS LEFT HOME. Seeing the muscle tissue from a cut on your finger, but knowing that your parents will not take you to the emergency room is.....well...you fill in the blank.

1) I have a collection of these that I use periodically with dd3 and C3. The only warning is that if you have only one "subject", your child may get bored from the lack of variety. I Can Color: http://www.amazon.com/Skills-Little-Hands-Color-Ages/dp/0769653928/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275945899&sr=8-1 I Can Cut: http://www.amazon.com/Big-Skills-Little-Hands-Can/dp/0769653626/ref=pd_sim_b_2 I Can Paste: http://www.amazon.com/Big-Skills-Little-Hands-Paste/dp/0769653723/ref=pd_sim_b_2 I can Trace: http://www.amazon.com/Big-Skills-Little-Hands-Trace/dp/0769654029/ref=pd_sim_b_2 2) Carol's Affordable Curriculum offers a summer pack of crafts. You would need to separate out the "craft for the day", but everything comes in the box except crayons, glue, and tape. I've used them before, and the crafts are fun! http://www.carolscurriculum.com/summer.html 3) Dd has started to enjoy painting with water! I bought her a simple painting book from Kmart, and she only needs me to tear out the next page for her or to get her fresh water. Look where the coloring books are located in your favorite discount store. If you are lucky, you can find true "paint with water" where your child will just need water to paint over the pre-printed (pre-painted pages) or you can find the nice painting books that come with a sleeve of 8 paints and a little paintbrush. Warning: put down newspaper to absorb the extra water. Hang in there with the pregnancy and get as much rest as you can. It WILL get better. :grouphug:

I have no financial advice for you, but I am so proud of your commitment to lowering your debt load! Hang in there! It sounds like you are making good progress!!! :party:

What do you drive as a car? What do you like or not like about it? My 1991 vehicle is on its last legs/wheels, and we had yet another "shot across the bow" when the rear hatch handle broke off when Loverboy needed to load some shelving units he had purchased. For a year, we have been attaching the battery for driving, and unattaching the battery when parked for more than an hour because of a slow drain on the battery from the electrical system. It is time for a new car.

For what it's worth, I threw my yearbook out over a decade ago. (I'll be 40yo in a few weeks). Not everyone who has prom, yearbooks, and all of the traditional trappings has a happy public high school experience. Public school does not guarantee a 90201 happy high school time. I am glad that you are making the choices that are best for your family. I'm glad that you are focusing on that.

:grouphug: I know EXACTLY how you feel. Dd is 3.5, and most of her friends are going off to the public pre-K in the fall, or the year after. We have signed her up for a co-op preschool for this fall, but we don't know what will happen after....and I suspect that most of the kids will move on to public school when they turn 5. Does your public school have a homeschooling group? I know that it sounds like a bit of a contradiction to send your child to homeschool through the public school system, but our school system offers weekly programs for older kids. Five years ago, when I was still nannying, the kids participated in gym, science, computers, or Spanish at different times with the homeschoolers. The kids had to be at least 6yo. I don't know what is offered now or if the age requirements have changed. The kids for whom I nannied also had friends through gymnastics, swim, church, recorder (group) lessons, and the local children's theater group. It is a little scary, and I am scared, too, that dd will have the opportunities to have friends in a healthy manner that works for her. We will figure this out.

If they are college students/young newlyweds, Loverboy gives a case of Mac & Cheese from Sam's club. They gotta eat sometime, and it won't be something they have to move when they graduate. ETA: I would give a game: Monopoly, Clue, etc, with the lesson to turn off the tv/computer and spend time as newlyweds the first year.

I glad your boy is safe, and I am sorry that you had such a rough day. As for the library, I would check out your library's WEBSITE. In our community, I can reserve online whatever I want from the library's catalog: magazines, books, music. The librarians pull what I want, and it is held near the front desk in big manilla envelopes with my name on it. I pick them up from the shelves of holds myself and use the self-checkout station. If I am unable to pick up my holds, I send Loverboy on his way home from work. Or I simply request to have the holds brought to our Bookmobile stop once a week. Disclaimer: not all libraries will pull/hold things for you that are on the shelf; many communities limit you to what is already checked out. I also like the self-checkout station in the children's room! We also have a "home-delivery" service, but I have not asked how one qualifies for that service. Usually it is intended for the elderly, but you may qualify!!!! Yes, we are spoiled by our librarians!!

More to add! 6) Usborne books has several Spanish/English books. Look for "First 100 Words in Spanish" and "First Thousand Words in Spanish." See if your library has a copy of either so you can preview them. Otherwise, an Usborne seller may have one in her stock that you can look at. http://www.myubam.com/ecommerce/results.asp?sid=E0699&gid=85164923 7) Usborne also has a video based on the "First Hundred Words in Spanish." The kids seem to prefer it to Muzzy and Professor Parrot...but that's just my kids. The name is "First Fun with Spanish." http://www.myubam.com/ecommerce/details.asp?sid=E0699&gid=85164923&title=First+Fun+with+Spanish+DVD&sqlwhere=submit%3Dsearch%26search%3Dfirst%2B100%2Bwords%2Bin%2Bspanish

1) We have Professor Parrot, too, and he is fine. We don't watch Professor Parrot a lot because there is a lot of TV competition in our household with DVDs from the library. (Daddy checks out Scooby Doo, etc). So....be realistic about how interested your children will be with Professor Parrot if there is such competition. 2) Muzzy is also recommended....but it is much more expensive. When I purchased our set, I paid one price, and 4-5 languages were included on one DVD set (Spanish, French, German, American English, British English, ESL, Italian...I think; it is loaned to a friend to preview right now). Muzzy is often available through libraries; it is where we learned of Muzzy. Our librarian shared with me of one 5yo who could speak all of the Muzzy languages at that time (listed above). She did acknowledge that it was a situation of Muzzy on the TV all the time, round-the clock. That would make me crazy, and would not be the best choice for every household! http://www.early-advantage.com/muzzytrialoptin_ft.aspx 3) Flip-Flop Spanish is a preschool program for Spanish. It is very elementary. I have purchased the books, but we haven't done anything with it yet. I've got too much else on my plate right now. Maybe others can share if they have tried Flip-Flop Spanish, and the pros and cons. http://flipfloplearning.com/ 4) If your little ones are obsessed with a standard Disney cartoon (for example, Aladdin), and they play it 24/7, switch the language to "Spanish." They already know the story, and the Spanish dubbing lines up with the cartoon faces for the most part. 5) Add Spanish to your daily life with YOU playing with the kids. For example, we pull out all of the kids' little plastic animals, and name as many of them in Spanish as we can. What are we having for breakfast? Tell them in Spanish (huevos!) What do you want to drink? (Leche or Jugo?)

I have always thought that unschooling required a specific type of parent AND a specific type of child. The child must be self-motivated and intrigued by a variety of things or a variety of aspects of something. The parent must be "tuned into" the child to guide and mentor the child in their interests. The parent must be conscientious of exposing the child to new ideas (through books, field trips, tv, discussions, etc) to develop these interests (whatever they may be). Kids sitting in a blank room with four walls and no windows are not going to know what the possibilities are! Parents must also be willing to spend money/resources on their children's interests. This may mean gas and a zoo membership. This may mean money for an internet connection or foreign language software. This may mean library fines. And this also means time invested in the child. I have a friend who confirmed this theory of mine through an "unschooling" private school. The kids at the school worked at their own pace throughout the year on whatever they wanted. So you have a situation of the exact same opportunities being offered by the exact same adults and exact same resources to two children from the same family. The daughter of the family learned TONS all year long. The son spend all year on the playground building a fort. That's all he did all day, every day. No reading. No math. No science. The parents decided to find a different education situation (with a little more structure) for their son the following year.

and I knew that it would be a bad day by 7:30 this morning. I don't want to go into details, because it's just a bad day. Please post good and happy things that have happened to you today to try to cheer me up.

You guys are making me hungry!!!!

I think if your child COULD handle this situation on his own, he would. From your description of the problem, I think that he still needs your help. He has tried using his words and these kids do not respect that as a limit. If we as adults used our words, and that was not respected, we would call a higher power: police, supervisor, lawyer, etc. Your son needs you to be the higher power: the adult in the situation. Disclaimer: My parents NEVER stood up for me, and the two lessons I learned from that part of my childhood were: 1) You deserve to be treated this way (treated poorly). and 2) We are not going to show you how to handle situations with people who do not respect your words. You are on your own. Oh, and if you DO stand up for yourself in an inappropriate manner (we won't tell you what that is), you'll get in trouble! Just because your child has the temporal age of 11 years, and his maturity level for most other things is most likely higher, in this one situation, he needs your guidance and support. If this was my son, and we couldn't avoid this family and their behavior, I would tell him to come and get me RIGHT AWAY if there are issues. He has tried his words. That didn't work. If he saw me "taking action" (taking away the stick, letting the other parents know how their child was behaving), he would have some idea of what he can actually do in the future. I wish you and your son wisdom and strength in this situation. --Laura in Iowa